: Guillain-Barré Syndrome usually presents with ascending symmetric polyneuropathy, typically preceded by a viral infection. Despite the low incidence, physicians will often include Guillain-Barré Syndrome in their differential diagnosis. However, another underlying cause of polyneuropathy known as ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) is even more rare than Guillain-Barré Syndrome and therefore is usually overlooked.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: This study evaluates the impact of antibiotic treatments and hospitalization on exercise performance and health-related quality of life (QOL) in children with mild cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease. Forty-seven children between 7 and 17 years with mild CF underwent a maximal exercise test including spiro-ergometry and filled out a QOL-questionnaire (PedsQL™). Amount of antibiotic treatments (AB) and hospitalization days in the last 3 years were reviewed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith concerns of energy shortages, China, like the United States, European Union, and other countries, is promoting the development of biofuels. However, China also faces high future demand for food and feed, and so its bioenergy program must try to strike a balance between food and fuel. The goals of this paper are to provide an overview of China's current bioethanol program, identify the potential for using marginal lands for feedstock production, and measure the likely impacts of China's bioethanol development on the nation's future food self-sufficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: As poverty and hunger are basic yardsticks of underdevelopment and destitution, the need for reliable statistics in this domain is self-evident. While the measurement of poverty through surveys is relatively well documented in the literature, for hunger, information is much scarcer, particularly for adults, and very different methodologies are applied for children and adults. Our paper seeks to improve on this practice in two ways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In West Africa, the Northern Sahelian zone and the coastal areas are densely populated but the Middle Belt in between is in general sparsely settled. Predictions of climate change foresee more frequent drought in the north and more frequent flooding in the coastal areas, while conditions in the Middle Belt will remain moderate. Consequently, the Middle Belt might become a major area for immigration but there may be constraining factors as well, particularly with respect to water availability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCompared to other continents, the economic growth performance of Sub-Saharan Africa has been poor over the last four decades. Likewise, progress in agricultural development has been limited and the Green Revolution left Africa almost untouched. The question raised in the literature is whether the poor performance is a question of poor policies or of an unfavorable biophysical environment (policy versus destiny).
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